Mr. Goose took my car today, which kind of ruins my plans for the day. Weather kept us from going Christmas shopping this weekend, so I have to get it done this week. I have two job interviews this week (HOORAY!) that I need to get prepared for. Oh, and did I mention the 30 or so Christmas cards I have yet to send out? Meanwhile, I have to clean/prep the house for the holidays because we will be spending two weeks traveling across the US. At some point I need to put all the addresses I got for Christmas cards onto an Excel spreadsheet, but I doubt that it's something I'm going to try to tackle this week.
Speaking of spreadsheets, have you guys started using Google Drive? I absolutely love creating and storing documents and spreadsheets on Google. I use Dropbox as well for files I create on my desktop because you can save files directly into a Dropbox folder on the desktop. I have used it instead of my computer's default folders for years now, and I can access the files from anywhere I have an internet connection. Google Drive works better for files that you want to share or collaborate on with other people. For example, when planning my wedding I shared all of my important documents with my mom. She is now able to add information to my guest list, find links to music I am considering for the wedding, and see all of my vendors' contact info.
For students, Google Drive can be a LIFESAVER. If there is anything I would like you to take away from this post, it is how to utilize Google Drive in the college classroom. Taking notes? Divvy up the work between 2 or 3 people so that everyone is taking notes on the same shared document. Or, share the notes you took with classmates after class. Did your professor give you a study guide? Copy the guide onto a Google doc, share with the ENTIRE class, and ask classmates to answer just 3 or 4 questions and to add on to other students' answers as they see fit. It is the fastest way to get a study guide completed so you can focus on actually studying. No more second guessing your answers, no more struggling to find 2 hours that work for everyone to meet in a library, and no more spending hours trying to find the answer to that one question that was only mentioned once during the lecture and isn't in your notes.
Past the school stage of your life? Google Drive can be used for things you had no idea you would ever want to collaborate on. If your family is like mine, those family recipes you have from your mother are missing that one ingredient that your grandmother always added to the recipe but never felt the need to write down. Why would she write it down? She knows that she needs to add lemon juice to the chicken salad and soy sauce to the steak marinade (on a side note, my mother actually sent me to spy/watch my grandmother make steak so we could figure out what she was adding to the recipe). Put all your recipes on Google Drive and ask Mom, Grandma, Aunt Ruth, etc., to check over the recipes or add their own. Planning a potluck? Share a document with everyone on the invite list to put their name and what dish they are bringing. Taking meals to a sick or recently pregnant friend? Create a spreadsheet to share with friends so no 2 people bring dinner on the same day. You can collaborate with friends and family using Google Drive to coordinate car pools, share wish lists, or anything else you can think of. The only limit to what you can do is your imagination. Cheesy, but so true.
Tomorrow, look for a new chicken and broccoli recipe I'll be trying out.
